Towson Tigers 2026 Season Preview

Shinnick's Even Keel

Towson landed at .500 in 2025, splitting its CAA slate 4-4 under Pete Shinnick, a season that reads as neither breakout nor collapse. The No. 63 power rating matches that middle-of-the-road finish, and there is nothing in the results to argue for a sharp turn in approach heading into 2026. This is a program holding its current level, and the story for Shinnick's staff is continuity rather than any dramatic swing.

Indorf Can't Fix the Ground Game

Towson's 6-6 finish papered over an offense that leaned on Andrew Indorf's arm (2,344 yards, 16 TD) to survive a run game that managed just 106 yards per game, 111th nationally. The tells for regression stack up: a 3-1 mark in one-score games, a defense that ranked 90th in keeping opponents off schedule yet bent without breaking, and an offense that scored efficiently on limited yardage, none of which is likely to repeat in 2026. Indorf returns to lead the passing attack, but until Towson finds a real rushing identity, the record is set up to look a lot more like the underlying numbers than last year's ledger.

Andrew Indorf threw for 2,344 yards and 16 touchdowns against just 4 interceptions last season, and that efficiency is why Towson's passing game ranked 37th nationally even as the ground game stalled at 111th in rushing yards per game. Pete Shinnick isn't searching for answers here, Indorf is back as the established starter, with Winston Watkins, who went 3 TD to 0 INT on limited throws, as a proven change-of-pace arm behind him. The addition of high school signee Grant Smith adds to the room's future, but 2026 is built around Indorf pushing an offense that already moved the ball at 5.75 yards per play into more explosive, third-down-sustaining territory.

Kemarrion Battles is the lead back now, and his 373 yards last year already outpaced departed starter Al Wooten II's 427-yard, 4-touchdown workload in touches, not production, which tells the real story of a ground game that ranked just 111th in rushing yards per game. Towson won games last season by throwing it, 234 yards per game through the air against only 106 on the ground, so Battles and Kahseim Phillips are not being asked to carry the offense so much as keep it on schedule on third down, where the Tigers already converted at a solid 40.0% clip. Harold Davis III arrives with no track record to lean on, which means the ceiling of this backfield in 2026 still runs through how much Battles can grow into the every-down role Wooten held.

Cleveland Charlton's 12 catches for 209 yards were a complementary role in 2025, but with John Dunmore (54-633-7) and Jaceon Doss (29-657-5) both gone, Charlton is now the most productive name left in a passing game that ranked 37th nationally. Jarvis Jones adds a modest 76-yard track record, while Jareel Calhoun, Julius Dorsey, Raj Hillhouse and Amari N'namdi-Hall carry no statistical history to lean on. Aaron Igwebe arrives from Archbishop Spalding as a name to watch, but the receiving production Towson leaned on for its 234 passing yards per game largely has to be rediscovered on the field, not projected from last year's numbers.

CJ Schaeffer's 6 catches for 92 yards and 2 touchdowns were modest by raw count but efficient, and with Bryce Butler's 8 grabs gone, Schaeffer becomes the clear veteran target at the position. Peyton Faulkner returns too, giving Towson two tight ends with game reps, while Luke Baldwin, Jack Mahoney and Jordan Stallworth are back without a catch on record. The passing game ranked 37th nationally in yards per game a year ago, so there is a real ceiling here if Schaeffer expands on his role as a red-zone threat.

The ground game was the drag on this offense last year, 106 rushing yards per game and a 111th-ranked national mark that never matched a passing attack good enough to rank 37th in the country. That imbalance now has to get fixed up front without Sahil Bhullar, Nick Gamble, Jean Germain, Jaelin Montgomery or Dan Volpe, all five gone from the line that produced it. Pete Shinnick's offense can still throw it at 234 yards a game, but until the rushing numbers move off the bottom third of FBS, this stays a one-dimensional attack.

Towson's front produced a defense that ranked 31st in yards per play allowed but let opponents stay on schedule at a 90th-ranked clip, a line that could bend without enough push to consistently get teams off schedule. JT Black, Wyatt Draeger and Aaron Clark are all gone from that group, taking their snaps with them, and Pete Shinnick fills part of the room with high school signee Zack Philpott out of South River rather than a transfer addition. The rushing defense allowed 172 yards per game, so whichever combination of experienced linemen and Philpott's development wins snaps up front will determine whether that number improves or repeats.

Pete Shinnick's defense finished 31st in yards per play allowed a year ago, but that number came with a linebacker corps that is now almost entirely dispersed, with CJ McClendon, Rodney Roane Jr., Myles Turner, Branson Peters and Ja'Mez Drummer among seven departures from the room. The rush defense at 172 yards a game (81st) already needed work, and replacing that much tackle production without a single returning name confirmed means the front seven's identity for 2026 gets written almost entirely by whoever Shinnick brings in and whichever experienced pieces remain unlisted. Towson held up well on early downs before contact, at 44.4% of opponent plays staying on schedule (90th), but that middle-of-the-field discipline is exactly what evaporates first when a linebacker room turns over this completely.

Emiril Gant's four tackles were the high mark in a Towson secondary that never had a single standout name last fall, yet the group still helped hold opponents to 208 passing yards a game, good for 50th nationally. That production came almost entirely from players who are back: Gant, Zakaa Brown, Bryan Lodge, Kavon McKinney, TJ Sands and Cody Williams all return, even as Kaden White (7 tackles, a sack and a TFL) and Xavier Terry (5 tackles) are gone. Towson's pass defense numbers held up despite that thin tackle production, which means the incumbents now inherit a bigger workload with more chances to actually make plays behind the front seven.

Caden Williams made 15 of 17 field goals with a long of 50 and Bryce LaFollette averaged 43.5 yards a punt, and both of those jobs are now open. Towson has three scholarship kickers on hand in Zaydaan Faridi, Ryan Leff and Owen Scheihing, none of whom have logged a college kick, so Pete Shinnick is picking a placekicker from a blank stat sheet rather than an obvious successor. Long snappers Daniel Anderla and Gavin Hall return, but the specialist spots that produced 81 points and steady field position a year ago are unproven heading into 2026.

Andrew Indorf's receiving corps

Indorf is back after throwing for 2,344 yards and 16 touchdowns, but the man who caught so many of them, John Dunmore, is gone, and Towson sent zero replacements through the portal to soften that loss. Cleveland Charlton, who managed just 12 catches for 209 yards a year ago, has to become a legitimate every-down target fast, because a five-out, zero-in portal offseason means this passing game lives or dies with the receivers already in the building.

Pete Shinnick's Home Cover Problem

Towson went 6-6 straight up but the split by venue is jarring: on the road the Tigers covered 57% of the time and won five of seven games outright, while at home they went winless against the number at 0-3-1 and dropped four of five straight up. That gap makes Pete Shinnick's club a road bet and a home fade until proven otherwise. Conference play was no better shelter, with a 2-5 cover mark against CAA opponents, so bettors backing Towson at home in league games in 2026 are working against real recent history.